1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to animal feedstuffs in pressed form based on solid, fibrous, agricultural by-products and non-fibrous additives, and to a process for the production thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The feeding of cereal straw and leguminous straw to ruminants and pigs as ballast or inert material is known. However, since straw has a large volume and its nutritional value is low, it is used only in emergencies for feeding purposes. In recent years agriculture has become greatly restructured. Because, in many cases, cattle raising has been discontinued and cereal and leguminous crops have taken its place, straw occurs in large amounts. The ground conditions are frequently such as to make it almost impossible to plough in all the straw, and the burning of excess straw is becoming increasingly less possible on account of environmental protection reasons.
Up till now, straw has not been able to be used in a practical manner as a cattle feedstuff. Morrison, in the textbook "Feeds and Feeding, A Handbook for the Student and Stockman", 22nd edition, Ithaca, N.Y., The Morrison Publishing Company, 1957, suggests that coarse forage is useful as a part of a feed for a ruminating animal since, if kernals of whole grain escape mastication when first eaten, they are brought up for rumination only if entagled in coarse forage. However, straw which consists of the mature stumps and leaves, without the seeds has relatively little protein, starch or fat while the content of fiber and lignin is high, is known to be very much lower in nutritional value than is hay made from the same plants, and also is known to be less palatable than good hay while both hay and straw are useful as coarse forage. Because of the low nutritive value, straw can be useful as part of the ration for animals not being fed for high production. It is much less useful for dairy cows, for fattening cattle or lambs or for calves. Straw is especially unsuited to form a large part of the ration for sheep. In order to make straw more palatable, pulped roots and meal are sometimes mixed with the cut or chaffed straw and the moist mass allowed to soften. To induce animals to eat more straw than they would otherwise eat, it may be sprinkled with diluted molasses. One allegedly effective feed mixture is oat straw, corn silage and a protein-rich concentrate. Other feed regimens suggested include straw plus cottonseed cake or meal, or straw and alfalfa or other legume hay. The fodder value of straw is limited by the content of lignins, which make it largely impossible to utilize the straw. Methods have been developed for breaking up and decomposing the straw by treatment with strong alkalis. This decomposition process was so technically perfected that the fodder value and digestibility of straw could be raised from a previous value of approximately 35 to 50% to 60 to 70%. The thus broken-down straw has the disadvantage, however, that it is eaten only reluctantly. by cattle. Feed concentrates must therefore be mixed with it in order to make it acceptable to cattle. Straw furthermore has the disadvantage that despite its high content of hydrocarbons, it contains no other nutrients worth mentioning and only some hardly utilizable protein and a few minerals.
Straw has the advantage that it satisfies cattle and especially ruminants as a "structure" or fibrous element, as long as its structure remains to a sufficient degree. Furthermore, on account of its carbohydrates, acetic acid formation in the rumen and thus the milk fat production is increased during digestion in ruminants, and preferably in dairy cattle. On account of its particular properties, namely its structure or fibrousness-satisfying ability, and promotion of acetic acid formation, straw has a basic value as a cattle feedstuff.
In harvesting feedstuff cereals, especially maize, those parts of the plants that were hitherto discarded with the straw or other waste, such as the fructification parts of the cereal grains or the fallen leaves, are harvested together with the hard seeds in order to retain the structure and the roughage components, and to raise and fully utilize the nutrient value of the plants.
This is particularly so in the case of fodder maize recovery. In maize harvesting, the leaf parts covering the maize seeds, the so-called husks, and the fructification parts, the so-called columellae, are harvested and processed together with the seeds. A part of the previously occurring agricultural by-products is thus added as a bonus to the seed mass. The product thereby obtained is termed a maize-husk-spadix conglomerate, or a maize-husk-spadix grist or a maize-columellae mixture, or a maize-collumellae grist, or even as corn-cob-mix (maize seed with columellae and/or involucral leaf or husk). For the sake of simplicity, only the expression "maize-husk-spadix grist" will be used hereinafter. This expression is intended to cover all the aforementioned expressions and also all types of conglomerates and mixtures of parts of the maize plant.
The same applies if other types of cereals, e.g., oats, wheat or rye are harvested in a similar manner as described above, so that on harvesting a conglomerate or mixture is obtained which contains, in addition to the seeds, other plant parts such as, e.g., fructification parts or leaves, which were hitherto discarded as straw or other waste residue. Such mixtures of seeds and other plant parts which have been obtained exclusively for animal feeding purposes are termed "feedstuff or fodder cereal mixtures" in the present application. However, these feedstuff mixtures have the disadvantage that their protein content is very low.
Flax is one of the oldest fibre and food plants, and even today it is still widely cultivated. Chaff and capsules occur in the recovery of fibres from the flax plant and are in many cases discarded.
A large proportion of the citrus fruits produced in the world is not supplied directly to the consumer but is processed in preserving and fruit-juice factories into canned fruit, juice or juice extracts and similar foodstuffs. Bananas are also processed directly by many foodstuff manufacturers. For example, infant foods and dried fruits are often prepared from bananas.
Many other types of fruits are also processed in factories to form compotes, fruit salads, dry fruits, juices and similar products.
Large amounts of skin, peel, etc. occur in the large-scale processing of citrus fruits, bananas and other types of fruit. The skin, peel, etc. of citrus fruits, bananas and other structured fruit remains were hitherto not processed further since they rapidly become rotten and great difficulty was experienced in disposing of them.
Further structured intermediate products which were discarded and not further utilized in the past are the malt sprouts that occur in many areas, especially in malt beer production.
It is also known that numerous digestible, industrial, non-structured by-products, after-products and residues having a nutritional value occur, such as for example, whey, protein-enriched residues from milk processing, spent molasses residues or vinasse, other spent material or slops, pulp or trash, .alpha.-cellulose, starch, brewer's yeast, brewer's grains, brewery residues, distillery residues, fermentation residues, dregs, kieselguhr residues, and other residues. All these products are in principle suitable as feedstuffs, but have hitherto hardly been utilized to any significant extent on account of their one-sided nature and their particular properties.
In the decomposition of milk into high value human foodstuff products, by-products occur such as for example rennet whey in cheese making. Rennet whey is processed in large amounts into unfermented whey powder. However, many after-products that are difficult to dispose of also occur in addition to rennet whey. In the production of curds, high lactic acid wheys are formed, and wheys from which the sugar and protein have been removed are formed in milk sugar production and lactose recovery. In addition there are the residues from modern, biologically milk processes, such as from ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis. Such after-products are difficult to use.
German Patent Specification No. 1,492,787 describes a process for the production of feedstuffs, in which sour whey and/or buttermilk is used as the milk processing product. In this known method protein-containing, carbohydrate-enriched and/or fat-rich additives are added in gel form to the acid whey and/or buttermilk. In the feedstuff thereby obtained the proportion of protein-containing, carbohydrate-rich additives is no longer in a structured form and accordingly the degree of satisfaction of this feedstuff is insufficient. High lactic acid or hydrochloric acid wheys can be processed and utilized only by using special methods and procedures (see German Patent Specification No. 1,492,787).
Numerous residues also occur in sugar production, wood production, brewing processes and distilling processes, and also in fermentation processes, which are difficult to remove but which basically have some nutritional value and accordingly could be used as feedstuffs.
It is also known that glutamic acid or citric acid can be recovered from molasses, i.e. residues from the sugar industry, spent molasses wash or vinasse remaining, this residue is in principle also suitable as a feedstuff.
Save-all substance or "trash" occurs in the processing of wood. This is pure .alpha.-cellulose, suitable as a feedstuff which could be fed to ruminants with the same success as starch. However, in practice it is not possible to feed save-all substance or trash to ruminants since the moist, crumbly product is neither palatable nor easily processible. It is therefore burnt or transported at great expense to refuse dumps.
Brewer's yeast, brewer's grains, dregs and kieselguhr residues occur in large breweries. In many cases these are high value feedstuffs but cannot be used in the normal way for feeding purposes on account of their high residual moisture content.
The afore-described, solid, structured, agricultural by-products and the likewise afore-described digestible, industrial, non-structured by-products, after-products or residues or residues having a nutritional value are:
(1) in principle suitable as feedstuffs, but are one-sided substances and thus need to be substantially augmented and structured in an animal-oriented manner;
(2) can be used in small amounts as feedstuffs in the traditional manner, but no longer in the present-day regional and local accumulations, and are accordingly an environmental problem;
(3) can no longer be finally improved or refined or converted into usable end products in plants situated at their point of production; and
(4) can be converted into end products at the point of their production only by using an enlarged and specialized plant. The additional expenditure thereby incurred is, however, no longer covered by the possible market proceeds from the end product, and losses therefore arise.
There are many patents which suggest modified animal feeds. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,670 patented Oct. 8, 1974 to Fermented Products Inc. suggested culturing whey with Lactobacillus bulgarium and Lactobacillus acidophilis; combining it with corn germ meal; and aerating and curing the fermented product to provide a non-hygroscopic free-flowing, self-preserving animal feed supplement.
U.S. Pat. No. 554,913 patented Sept. 22, 1925 by W. P. M. Grelch provides a self-preserving wet food product of mallet grain including the sprouts in fresh undried state and impregnated with a preservative quantity of lactic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,797 patented by A. M. Zenzes provides a dry-to-the-touch non-fibrous food involving comminution of dry fibrillous food material to great fineness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,018 patented Mar. 29, 1977 to Food Technology Products provides an ensilaged animal feed from a forage crop which has been chopped into small pieces, along with sodium diacetate and dehydrated whey.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,363,730 patented by Nicholas L. Simmons provides a food material containing a protein and hydrolyzed whey.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,223,904 patented Dec. 3, 1940 by M. Zentz et al provides a compressed fodder from vegetable raw materials compressed at a high pressure of about 700 to 1500 atmospheres.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,173,922 patented Sept. 26, 1939 by The Borden Company provides dried whey including therein an organic water-insoluble non-gelatinized substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,555,246 patented Sept. 29, 1925 by W. P. M. Grelch provides a self-preserving food product from milk, steeping grain hulls and lactic acid.
British Pat. No. 406,403 of Emil Heller provides an animal feed including chopped straw, crude crystallized sugar, molasses and ordinary dry fodder.
British Pat. No. 1,361,266 patented by Eltsac Feeds Limited provides an animal feed from calcium hyroxide, a feeding stuff meal, and molasses.
British Pat. No. 1,317,003 patented by Secko Malsuoki provides an animal feed from cellulosic feedstuffs by treating them with the enzyme lignione.
British Pat. No. 1,139,136 patented by L. B. Heesen et al provides a composite forage in pellet form grounds and/or seeds which are so crushed that the starch components are pulverized but the cellulosic compound is broken into pieces.
British Pat. No. 877,691 patented by James & Co. (Hungerford) Limited provides a feedstuff made of suger, a meal made from immature herbage, a high protein content material and dried distillery concentrate.
British Pat. No. 532,247 patented by Naamlooze Vennootschap provides a foodstuff of comminuted different vegetable products.
Canadian Pat. No. 788,936 patented July 2, 1968 by Cargill Inc. provides a pelleted mineral feed involving the use, as a binder, of spent sulfite liquors.
Australian Pat. No. 4828-26 is directed to a process for making fodder consisting in mixing ground maize stalks (rachis) with wet brewery residue. According to this patent "flour" produces from the stalks is used. The maize stalks can also be grounded to groats or flakes. This flour of maize stalks is then impregnated with beer wort contained in spent malt. The fodder obtained is a paste and does not have any bite. It is known that flour or flakes or groats easily absorb moisture and liquid.
Australian Pat. No. 4829-26 is directed to a process for making useful products from sugar cane. The ripe sugar cane contains about 29 to 34% by weight solids and 60 to 71% by weight water. In the normal working up about 10 to 11% sugar is removed so that approximately one third of the solid is used and about two thirds of the solid is wasted. To use this material, it is ground so that it can be used directly as fodder. The ground product may be subjected to a sifting process since only the small particles are rich in sugar. This patent, therefore, aims to use the sugar as contained in the sugar cane. After the grinding it is necessary to carry out a heat treatment so that one obtains more tasty compounds. One obtains three sections. The finest meal constitutes a valuable good fermentation agent and baking powder for bakeries and it can be used for different purposes. The second section may be used as fodder, either alone or mixed with normal fodder substances. In order to make the product more stable it is possible to add maize cobs deprived of grains to it.
Australian Pat. No. 7813/27 is directed to a fodder which can be used for cattle and/or sheep in time of draught. The fodder comprises a relative large portion of a selected roughage, among others corn stalks or straw, and a relatively small portion of materials high in digestible proteins. The fodder comprises:
______________________________________ desicated sorghum 100 parts (or 71%) molasses 5 parts (2.9%) lucerne meal 25 parts (17.9%) corn meal 5 parts (3.6%) cotton seed meal 2.5 parts (1.8%) meat meal 2.5 parts (1.8%) ______________________________________
The product thus comprises 6.2% digestible protein and 34.6% digestible carbohydrate.
Australian Pat. No. 8800/27 relates to an artificial food for farm stock. This fodder comprises a meal of prickly pear spines and substantially creamless milk, e.g. skim milk or separated buttermilk. Skim milk or buttermilk as used in this fodder are valuable products with nutrive value which are fodder as such. The prickly pear spines are cut and dried in the air. They afterwards are ground. The ground material is mixed with the skim milk or buttermilk and one obtains a paste. This pasty composition does not have any bite.
Australian Pat. No. 21,770/29 is directed to the manufacture of artifical foods for farm stock. Fish meal and prickly pears are mixed to obtain a dry food product.
Since the prior art as noted above is deficient, the main object of the present invention is thus to provide animal feedstuffs and a process for their production, in which the aforementioned products, which occur in large amounts, which are easily procured, and which can in principle be used as feedstuffs, are employed. In this connection, the substances are intended to have an optimum utilization by the cattle, so that the costs involved in the production of animal food products, e.g., milk and meat, can be lowered, and also the costs for removing and eliminating such residues can also be decreased.
The feedstuff according to the invention is intended to have a high satisfaction value and at the same time to be readily accepted by cattle.